Vegetarian Recipe Blog

Pickles /Chutney / Masala Powders

If you are like me and have the perception that chutney usually means the one that is made of coconut and that it is eaten with idlis or dosas, then you will be in for a good surprise. For this chutney has no trace of coconut in it and can be eaten along with plain rice.

I learnt this recipe from my colleague Sudha, after tasting her delicious Lauki(Bottle gourd) chutney. She had brought the chutney along with rice and dosa and I was very pleased with the taste. I got the recipe from her and tried it during the weekend; since I did not have bottle gourd I used Zucchini instead.

The flavor of cooked zucchini is hardly felt in this chutney. It is overpowered by that of roasted cumin seeds, urad daal, garlic and chillies. To me it felt like regular coconut chutney, with similar consistency and the usual spicy tangy flavors. As a bonus this chutney is nutritious because this is just a combination of veggies and spices.

If you have never tasted this before, then I recommend you to try this once. Zucchini could be substituted with other bland vegetables likeLauki/Bottlegourd or even ridge gourd. This is simple to make and can be made with just regular ingredients on hand. Goes well with Idlis, Dosas, chapathi or with rice. This can be made ahead of time and stores well in the fridge for about a week.

We enjoy eating gooseberries/Amla (a type of fruit) as is along with salt and chilli powder. Luckily fresh gooseberries were available when we were in India and we got to relish them. The amla fruit well known for its Ayurvedic uses contains more than 80% of water. It also has protein, carbohydrate, fiber, minerals and vitamins.

There are many variations of this spice powder/curry powder and not to mention different names Khara Pudi, Palya Pudi or even chutney Pudi that it can get confusing. So to avoid any confusion I am referring to this as multi purpose Spice Powder.

At home our pantry is usually stocked with different powders, but they are either store brought or the ones that we got from India courtesy of our parents. So it is rare that we make powders from scratch at home. But this one is an exception and the credit goes to DH for making this.

As the name suggests it can be used in many different ways, in dry sabjis, with plain rice and as accompaniment with idlis, dosas, rottis.